TiVo Gets YouTube

TiVo has announced that users will soon be able to view YouTube content on their devices as a free new service.

"We're continuing to bridge the gap between TV and the Web and YouTube is certainly a critical part of that plan," said Tara Maitra, vice president and general manager of content services at TiVo.

Maitra said that beta testers trying out the new service had already come up with a few examples of how the bringing the onlne video service to TiVo enhanced their use of the digital video recorder. When watching a news clip about the recent death of George Carlin, for example, one user hit the TiVo's pause button and flipped over to the Tivo's YouTube connection to watch clips of the late comedian's performances. Others said they clicked over to YouTube during baseball games

The new service is available to TiVo customers with a "Series 3" or "TiVo HD" box. TiVo said the software update making it possibly for users to watch YouTube content will roll out "over the next few weeks."

Maitra said her team tested the new TiVo around the office by checking out popular TiVo clips like "Chocolate Rain and "Where the Hell is Matt?"